The present invention relates to an apparatus used for the storage of small items and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an apparatus removably mounted to the ceiling of an automobile roof in a position above the heads of a vehicle's occupants across the ceiling from the driver's side to the passenger's side in order to provide storage for items normally carried within an automobile such as cassette tapes, compact discs, gloves, sunglasses, maps, nasal tissue, garage opener, mail, first aid kit, loose change, and/or hand towels.
In today's society, automobiles are more like second homes than a means of transportation. As such, people routinely carry large amounts of personal belongings within their automobiles. Unfortunately, storage space for smaller items which are easily lost is extremely limited in most of today's automobiles. Thus, small items such as cassette tapes, compact discs, maps, sunglasses, and gloves are left lying about the automobile where they be lost within the seats or out the door or they find their way to the floorboards where they are ruined under an occupant's feet.
Additionally, small personal items left laying about an automobile create a dangerous situation if the vehicle's driver wishes to find a particular object while driving. That is, if the item is not readily available, a driver may temporarily avert his/her eyes from the road in an attempt to locate the desired item. Seeking to locate an object within an automobile by averting one's eyes from the road produces an extremely dangerous situation because failure to pay full attention to the road is likely to be the cause of an accident resulting in the injury of the driver, innocent third parties, or both.
The above situation is clearly exemplified when the item in the car is a cassette tape or compact disc. With the proliferation of radios which are outfitted with cassette tape players or compact disc players, the trend is to possess a large personal music collection readily available in one's automobile. Normally, these collections consist of cassette tapes or compact discs either spread throughout an automobile's interior or placed in a cassette tape or compact disc carrying case which is located on one of the car's seats. Thus, a vehicle operator desiring to listen to his/her favorite song must either randomly grab tapes or CD's stuck in various the crevices in the car's interior or open the carrying case placed on one of the car's seats and search through the tapes or CD's held within until the desired one is found. In either case, the driver's will take his/her eyes off the road for what may amount to an extended period of time just to find the desired tape or CD. Such a lack of attention to the road is unacceptable when safe driving is considered. Failure to pay proper attention while driving is a large cause of automobile accidents, and searching for items in a car such as cassette tapes or CD's certainly encourages a driver to avert his/her eyes from the road.
The present invention, therefore, provides an apparatus that overcomes the lack of storage within an automobile which causes small items to be ruined or lost and further creates the dangerous driver condition of failing to pay full attention to the road provoked when a small object which is not readily accessible must be located during vehicle operation.